Artifice, Inc.

Free Online Tutorials for DesignWorkshop&reg

Introductory

DesignWorkshop is a fast, fun, and easy program to learn. Because of its unique live 3D modeling interface, it makes a big difference if you take a few minutes to read about a few key concepts before you start up the software.

When learning DesignWorkshop, the most important things to understand are 1) how to use the Eye tool and the Look tool for live 3D viewing, 2) how to move 3D crosshair around, and how to align it easily and accurately, and 3) how to know exactly where objects are located in the 3D modeling space, so you can create and adjust your model accurately.

After spending a few minutes on these basic concepts, you'll be all ready to create your first project - a complete simple house.

This highly-recommended 12 part step-by-step tutorial will introduce you to modeling with DesignWorkshop, starting with a quick overview of key concepts, and then taking you through core functions including creating and reshaping objects, duplicating, changing object colors, the Wallify command, and making openings. Along the way you will construct your own model of a classic house.

Advanced

These concise instructions take you step by step through the process of exporting a DesignWorkshop scene in Radiance format and rendering it with the sophisticated and beautiful lighting effects provided with Radiance, an extremely powerful freely-distributed ray-tracing renderer.

To use the downloadable DesignWorkshop Tutorial in Windows Help format, first download the complete ZIP archive file to your hard disk, and then decompress it with a utility like StuffIt Expander or WinZip. Then double-click on the "DW_Tutorial.hlp" to view the complete set of tutorials.

Decompressing ZIP Archive Files

If your Windows web browser is not already set up to decompress ".zip" files, you can download the necessary decompression software free over the Internet. Here are two sources for decompression utilities for Windows 95/NT:

Stuffit Expander (cross-platform & will also decompress ".sit" files from the Great Buildings Collection) --